Screening for MRSA: a flawed hospital infection control intervention.
Focusing hospital resources on a single antibiotic-resistant pathogen as a sole approach to infection control is inherently flawed. We applied attributable mortality principles to a basic model of bloodstream infections to outline the argument. Screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus alone made sense in the 1980s, but the ongoing emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and antibiotic-resistant strains of gram-negative rods and Candida species, as well as the recognition of the value of team-based infection control programs, support a population-based approach.
Wenzel
Richard P
RP
Department of Internal Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Campus, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Bearman
Gonzalo
G
Edmond
Michael B
MB
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance